EPIC - Are we thinking out of the Wrong Box?

Apart from the hints from Richard and Tony have made, over at ConsimWorld, that a CC:N Epic is in the works, we have no idea what GMT's plans are in this regard. It was only natural then that scenario creators assumed that CC:N Epic would be the same format as CC:A Epic or the older M'44 Overlord, but is that necessarily the case?

Most of the fans on this site were introduced to C&C through CC:A, some of us have been hooked since the days of Battle Cry(2000) and a few of us also have an interest in M'44. The one thing we all have in common is Historical War games. I wouldn't be surprised then if the majority of people here skipped the whole BattleLore Saga. I for one do not want my Scots Grays to be mounted on dairy cattle, or have to wounder if a Troll lives under Sterling Bridge whilst trying to teach William Wallace a lesson in Nobility. The switch between publishers and the resultant confusion over the future of the game also deterred a lot of people. But BattleLore is a great game and has arguably as strong a following as CC:A, if not more so as there are far more Fantasy gamers out there than Historical gamers.

So why the sudden interest in BattleLore? I wanted to attempt the Battle of Sterling Bridge, having recently watched the movie Braveheart, and remembered that BattleLore had a Scottish wars expansion. I downloaded the Expansion Rules and found the Scenario. I reasoned that I could probably use my own 10mm figures, whip up some banners on a colour printer to reflect the unit types and use the Command card deck from CC:A. In the process of reading the rules, to see if the card decks and mechanics were indeed comparable, I came across the Epic Adventures Supplement and suddenly Sterling Bridge was consigned back to Ancient History and Waterloo was back in the frame.

I had assumed that Epic Battlelore was identical to the format used in the other games mentioned above so nearly ignored it till I saw the scenario setup for the Epic version of The Battle of Agincourt. Rather than join two boards together lengthwise as in CC:A, BattleLore has a CC:A style Board on the front and half of an Epic Board on the back. By flipping 2 boards over and placing them together you get what is effectively a Breakthrough size battlefield of 17 by 13 hexes but oriented at 90 degrees to the M'44 Breakthrough format, and that my friends, is perfect for Napoleonic battles.

The 9 x 26 Hex format of CC:A and M'44 is great for representing 2 large armies in close contact with each other but the lack of depth makes maneuverer not only difficult but pretty much impossible, as at only 9 hexes deep the forces are effectively already in contact. The Breakthrough format of 13 x 17 hexes, on the other hand, works great in M'44 where we have very flexible and fast moving unit types like Tanks, Aircraft and Special forces but our Napoleonic Forces tend to plod along in Line formation.

17 x 13 gives us the best of both worlds, effectively it only extends the battlefield by 4 hexes in each direction but it is sufficient to create a feeling of both Depth and Width that gives room for manouver and beter representation of larger battles. As a proof of concept I created a map of the Waterloo Scenario :

http://www.boardgamegeek.com/image/937972/caroper?size=medium
www.boardgamegeek.com/image/937972/caroper?size=medium

I tried to keep things in the same relative position and proportion but used the extra space to include my multi-hex versions of Hougoumont and La Haye Sainte. It is really just to show the possibility, I will leave it up to the pros out there to develop some scenarios.

One last point, Epic BattleLore is played with a standard Command card Deck of 60 cards, I for one would not be surprised if this is the format that CC:N Epic will take, in fact given the importance of maneuver in battles of this era I am surprised it was not used as the base format.

Anyone feel like adding this board format to the Vassal Module

Cheers
Chris

ps. I can't get the embedded image to work so I have offered a link to the geek, I hope that is not breaking any forum rules

Well, i played BL earlier, but most "historical" without any lore rules and/or
creatures, to use it for the medieval epoche.
But in meanwhile, the current FFG version of BL is gone complete to fantasy,
therefore i didn´t played anymore, most "historical" players left BL also.
So only a few "fantasy" players remain (on Vassal), and they dont like the historical
games without lore

But if there are some "historical" players back to BL, which want to play
this game only historical (without any lore rules), i am available for such games,
for sure

Well, i prefer the up/down direction of the hexes (not left-right) Chris,
because so you can use the existing boards (in this case the
Epic Battlelore board).

And you have also the same retreat mechanisms like on the
original maps.

Bayernkini wrote: Well, i prefer the up/down direction of the hexes (not left-right) Chris,
because so you can use the existing boards (in this case the
Epic Battlelore board).

And you have also the same retreat mechanisms like on the
original maps.

OOPs. You are 100% Correct Micheal, I got the hex orientation wrong on my test setup
I will go back into the graphics editor and correct that.

Thanks for pointing it out.

Cheers
Chris

Hello,

Chris, here is the Epic BattleLore board :



I like this format too, but it doesn't seem very used..

cheers

Such a wide board is not useful for "slow" game, like CC Naps in my opinion.
"Narrow" map (like in M44 Overlord) will be ok for Epic Napoleonics.

I agree, CCN movement is slow or very slow.
But thinking out of the box, nothing prevents creating faster moving BT deck.

However, I also believe CCN Epic will realize instead of CCN BT.